Manuel Pellegrini needs a response from his Manchester City team as they prepare to return to action after last week's derby mauling by Manchester United. City's underwhelming 2015 took a considerable turn for the worse as they were overpowered by their arch-rivals in a 4-2 defeat at Old Trafford.

Their Premier League title defence was already looking over, but that result has potentially left their campaign in ruins and prompted much criticism and soul-searching. City have won just four league games from 12 since jointly leading the table in early January, and any more bad results could put their top-four place in jeopardy. The pressure on Pellegrini and his players, with rumours of a potential clear-out in the summer, is considerable, and they badly need a victory as West Ham United visit the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

"When you lose a game the first few days are always difficult, especially when you lose a derby," said Pellegrini. "But I think the players are conscious we don't have results that we deserve.

"We continue being the team that scores more goals. We defended very badly in the last game, but we have the fifth best defence in the Premier League. We are the team that always have the most possession in every game.

"We have to be clear why we are not having the most results, which mistakes we are making. Two or three balls change the performance of the whole team, so it is very important to have the correct diagnostic about the team, about what we must change, what we must do in the future."

City were beaten 2-1 at Upton Park in October, a result that was unexpected at the time even though West Ham were in form and flying high in fourth. After that game, Hammers manager Sam Allardyce suggested that City had become predictable and that is how his side had managed to outmanoeuvre them.

That has been a familiar criticism of Pellegrini and his tactics since, particularly as City have stagnated in recent months. Pellegrini is well aware of this but remains steadfast in his methods, insisting that the problem is in the execution and not the lack of variation.

He said: "Every manager knows how we work, how we play. The problem we have this year is that we've scored 21 goals less, it's not because we are not creating chances. If we never created chances maybe we'd change the system but we always do. We are the highest scoring team of the Premier League.

"The diagnostic is not that. There may be a lot of different diagnostics why it's not happened."

Pellegrini is also well aware that his team cannot afford to miss out on UEFA Champions League qualification. That would be a serious blow to the ambitions of the club and quite possibly make his position untenable.

"I don't think in a negative way," Pellegrini said. "We are still in the Champions League places. It's easy for a big team not to be in it - United last year. There are four or five strong teams here. Of course it's important for the project to be in the Champions League, and I hope we will win on Sunday and be in the Champions League."
Source: FIFA.com